Soldiers take over community after captain’s killing

Military men have been dispatched to the Diaso community in the Upper Denkyira West District of Ghana where an army captain, Adam Mahama, was stoned to death and burnt after they mistook him for an armed robber on Monday.

The day after the incidence, military men were dispatched to the town. And about 120 residents were picked up for their involvement in the incident.

According to JoyNews’ Ohemeng Tawiah, the troops were going from door to door seeking information that would help identify the perpetrators.

The Police, however, accused the military of hampering investigations into the incident and demanding their withdrawal from the town.

ASP Osei-Adu Agyemang, District Police Commander, said the presence of the military in the community was scaring residents which had been truncating the efforts of the police in compiling useful information about the officer’s death.

“Our fear now is the soldiers storming Denkyira Obuasi and most of the people leaving town. It will take time for police to take the possible witnesses to help us speed up investigations,” he said.

Defence Minister Dominic Nitiwul promised that government would investigate thoroughly the killing, which he described as weird.

“The circumstance under which this officer was murdered callously has not yet been established so I will urge that we don’t draw conclusions until a thorough investigation has taken place”.

He said the circumstance surrounding the killing is weird because the deceased was armed.

“If it was the normal Ghanaian way of shouting ‘jolour’ [thief] then straight away the officer would have wasted some people if he knew they would kill him.

“It is clear the way he was murdered, the villagers might not have raised the thief syndrome of shouting. They may have hit him without him knowing what their intentions were,” the Minister said.

The Central Region Minister, Kwamena Duncan has expressed his misgivings with the handling of the matter by the military in the community.

“…this is purely a criminal matter, and the solution to this crime is not about the use of brute force,” he said.